My wish for British politics

More Than Mortal · March 14, 2016, 01:47:31 PM

I hope the rise of the SNP and Corbyn spell death for the Labour party. The centrist Blairites should flock to the Liberal Democrats, and rebrand it the New Liberal Party. The relative economic sense of the Liberal Democrats and the Blairites brought together with an appreciation for values like liberty and rule of law.

Now that's a party I could both vote for and be happy to have in opposition.

Mr. Psychologist · March 14, 2016, 01:50:25 PM

I'll be honest and say I actually forgot the liberal democrats existed...

But yeah, I'd be down for this too. Labour is a decaying joke at the moment, the SNP are doing what you can expect from a nationalist party and as much as I dislike certain tories it's better for the UK as a whole to have them running the show at the moment.

Hell, if the tory party just shot IDS and booted michael gove, I'd vote for em.

gats · March 14, 2016, 02:18:06 PM

What's wrong with UKIP?

Mordo · March 14, 2016, 02:37:10 PM

democracy is a fallacy

big dog · March 14, 2016, 02:55:32 PM

SECOND

LIBERAL

UPRISING

big dog · March 14, 2016, 02:56:38 PM

Quote from: Mr. Psychologist on March 14, 2016, 01:50:25 PM

Hell, if the tory party just shot IDS and michael gove, I'd vote for em.

Fixed.

Mr. Psychologist · March 14, 2016, 03:27:14 PM

Quote from: Fedorekd™ on March 14, 2016, 02:56:38 PM

Quote from: Mr. Psychologist on March 14, 2016, 01:50:25 PM
Hell, if the tory party just shot IDS and michael gove, I'd vote for em.

Fixed.

tbh he's done himself in by crossing 'er madge

It's better he has to live out the shame for the rest of his inept life.

Jocephalopod · March 14, 2016, 05:09:06 PM

you guys should vote for trump

Alpha · March 14, 2016, 05:33:34 PM

Can anyone fill me in on British politics?

Super Irish · March 14, 2016, 07:59:29 PM

Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 05:33:34 PM

Can anyone fill me in on British politics?

It's basically a posher more controlled version of banter. (Supported by "OOOOHWAAAAY!")

YouTube

Alpha · March 14, 2016, 08:00:46 PM

Quote from: PsygnI on March 14, 2016, 07:59:29 PM

Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 05:33:34 PM
Can anyone fill me in on British politics?
It's basically a posher more controlled version of banter. (Supported by "OOOOHWAAAAY!")
YouTube

I'm more asking about the different political parties.

Mordo · March 14, 2016, 08:33:17 PM

Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 08:00:46 PM

Quote from: PsygnI on March 14, 2016, 07:59:29 PM
Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 05:33:34 PM
Can anyone fill me in on British politics?
It's basically a posher more controlled version of banter. (Supported by "OOOOHWAAAAY!")
YouTube

I'm more asking about the different political parties.

Labour and Conservatives are the establishment parties, sort of akin to the Republicans and Democrats but way more left leaning.

UKIP have been the protest vote for the past couple of years what with the sudden rise of Euroscepticism in the country.

Liberal Democrats used to be the protest vote but they formed a coalition with the Conservatives two elections ago. A lot of people saw this as them getting into bed with the establishment, thus they were absolutely obliterated in the subsequent election.

Scotland, Wales and NI have their own devolved parliaments with their own respective parties but are still technically part of the UK.

Conservatives are currently in power.

More Than Mortal · March 14, 2016, 08:48:48 PM

Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 08:00:46 PM

Quote from: PsygnI on March 14, 2016, 07:59:29 PM
Quote from: Alpha on March 14, 2016, 05:33:34 PM
Can anyone fill me in on British politics?
It's basically a posher more controlled version of banter. (Supported by "OOOOHWAAAAY!")
YouTube

I'm more asking about the different political parties.

Labour is our "socialist" party. Since Thatcher, Labour was defined more by a centrist, Third Way approach to the economy like Bill Clinton. New Labour wasn't really socialist so much as it was more liberal/social democratic. Currently the party is led by a bunch of people who have ties to a Trotskyist group called Militant, and has definitely taken a sharp turn Left.

The Conservatives are obviously the conservatives, and have their history in the Rockingham Whigs (including Edmund Burke), Independent Whigs and Peelite Tories. To varying degrees, the conservatives tended to support paternalistic government and represented a weird kind of social-democratic/corporatist consensus until Thatcher shook things up. Since Thatcher, they have broadly been a more free-market party dominated by social moderates (or metropolitan liberals) like David Cameron and George Osborne.

UKIP largely picks up Eurosceptics, populist Tories and disaffected working class voters unhappy with the levels of immigration into the country.

The Liberals were the main opposition to the Conservatives in the mid- to late-1800s, comprised of Whigs, Radicals and free-trade Peelites who had bled out of the Conservative Party. The Liberals were, at first, defined by the liberalism of people like Gladstone and Mill, who tended to push fiscally conservative but socially liberal policies. Around the end of the 1800s, a New Liberalism emerged within the party encompassed by Asquith and Lloyd George which was inspired by ideas from more left-wing Liberals like John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge; they essentially lay the foundation for Britain's welfare state and then faded into obscurity.

challengerX · March 15, 2016, 06:31:06 AM

This user has been blacklisted from posting on the forums. Until the blacklist is lifted, all posts made by this user have been hidden and require a Sep7agon^® SecondClass Premium Membership to view.